Bhopal: The by-election to Amarwala Assembly constituency in Madhya Pradesh on July 10 may pose a tough test for veteran Congress MP Kamal Nath, who lost the Chhindwara assembly seat in the state to the traditional and powerful BJP in the recently concluded LS elections. The state has been considered his family’s stronghold for the last 44 years, so this election may pose a tough test for him.
Nath’s son Nakul, who was seeking re-election from the Chhindwara LS seat in the last elections, lost to BJP candidate Bunti Sahu by a margin of over 1 lakh votes.
A by-election to Amarwala Assembly constituency, which falls under Chhindwara LS seat, was necessitated after the incumbent MP Kamalesh Shah resigned from the Lok Sabha ahead of the LS elections.
Once considered a close aide to Nath, Shah later left the Indian National Congress to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The BJP has already announced Shah as the party candidate from Amarwala.
However, the Indian National Congress is yet to finalise its candidate for the seat.
“Nath has already started the work of selecting candidates for the Amarwala Party,” said a senior Congress leader here on Saturday, who did not want to be quoted.
In the last state assembly elections, the Indian National Congress won all seven seats, including Amarwala in the Chhindwara LS constituency.
Sources said the Congress may consider the option of fielding a leader of the Gondwana Gantantra Party (GGP), a tribal political outfit that has a significant influence among the people of the area, in the Amarwala constituency.
The Congress Party faces an uphill task of finding a candidate who has a chance of winning the by-elections following Shah’s departure from the party ahead of the LS elections, a senior party leader said.
Further, around 2,000 Indian National Congress activists from Chhindwara had quit the party and joined the BJP ahead of the LS elections, he added.
“We will field a candidate who has a good chance of winning and will surprise our rivals with our choice of party candidate,” another Congress leader said.
However, the BJP exudes confidence that it will win the seat in the by-election.
“We have already announced our candidate. The Indian National Congress is still struggling to find a suitable candidate for this seat,” said Rajneesh Agrawal, state secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
